Demystifying Planned Parenthood

Pro-life versus pro-choice: where one stands in regards to abortion law can serve as an indication of where you stand in the spectrum of politics.  Abortion continues to be a hot topic, especially with primary elections fast approaching.  Many Republican candidates have signed a pledge promising to strip funding from Planned Parenthood and appoint pro-life judges upon election.  Two serious Republican candidates, Mitt Romney and Herman Cain, have yet to sign said pledge, although Cain takes a firm stand against abortion and Romney advocates the reversal of Roe v. Wade, arguing states should handle the issue. 
 
On the other hand, Obama has staunchly worked to appoint pro-choice senators and lawyers to federal positions and provided extensive funding and support to pro-abortion organizations nationally and internationally.
 
According to a poll conducted last year by CampusReforms.org, an organization that examines “leftist-biased” universities, 67% of Yalies identify themselves as Democrats, 21% as moderate, and 12% as Conservative.  Yale’s already muddied political waters are stirring with recent news regarding Mississippi’s “Personhood” Amendment and Republican candidates’ vow to defund Planned Parenthood.
 

A couple weeks ago, I was among thirty students gathered at the Women’s Center to engage in discussion with Susan Yolen, the VP of public affairs and communications for Planned Parenthood of Southern New England.  Going into the talk, I will admit that I was unfamiliar with the logistical work of Planned Parenthood.  The organization appears veiled in secrecy, surrounded by picketers angry over the controversial procedures being offered.  But when Susan described the organization and what it stood for, I realized the widespread misconception assigned to the organization was far more dramatic than I would have guessed.
 
Susan spoke of Planned Parenthood’s role as the largest provider of reproductive health globally, especially in underdeveloped countries where contraception is hard to find.  Clinics provide contraception, cervical cancer screening and treatment, routine sexual health checkups, and sexually transmitted infection testing.  Additionally, Susan voiced Planned Parenthood’s fundamental view by stating that information about sexual and reproductive health is a basic human right and neither woman nor men can properly exercise sexuality without information. 
 
Susan also explained how Planned Parenthood is vocal on educational and political fronts.  The organization brings comprehensive sexual education programs to public and private schools that lack such programs.  They train teachers, coaches, and parents to work with youth and ensure comfort with talking about sensitive topics. 
 
Planned Parenthood actively advocates abstinence education.  However, Susan argued we are living in an age when talking about abstinence until marriage is irrelevant.  The organization recognizes that many adolescents are choosing to become sexually active at a young age and Planned Parenthood must use this to work within the parameters of reality. 
 
Although Planned Parenthood does offer pill and procedural abortions, it seems the breadth of educational, health, and preventative services they provide is often overshadowed by the political controversy surrounding abortion.
 
Susan frankly described the cutthroat mêlée between Planned Parenthood and the organizations’ incessant opposition: “Unless you have been under a rock somewhere, a lot of people don’t agree with us.”
 
Susan notes the organization’s successes in face of adversity.  The failure to pass the Mississippi’s “Personhood” Amendment, which proposes that life is created in the moment of fertilization and therefore would make many forms of birth control illegal, indicates there is a line that the supreme court is not willing to cross, and that Roe v. Wade still stands as the benchmark for abortion law.
 
Planned Parenthood relies heavily on advocacy, but the organization’s focus is not on overcoming opposition or convincing the public of their views.  Susan reiterates that bitterness and acrimony between two sides will not solve the issue as hand; what Planned Parenthood stands for is a matter of women’s rights and reproductive justice.  She argues it is most important to look at women’s health in a larger framework in order to decrease the number of abortions in the United States and examine what factors prevent healthy pregnancy.  Planned Parenthood hopes to identify what steps can be taken to provide services and contraception without co-payment as a basic preventative service.
 
Moving forward, Planned Parenthood will continue to focus on this multifaceted objective in the face of rising opposition and ambiguities in the future of our nation’s healthcare.  Susan brought her talk to a close with a sense of optimism, and I found myself leaving the discussion with a better sense of the purpose and cause of an organization entrenched in controversy.